Blackshear named Texas College coach

Rodney Blackshear, Texas Tech’s leading receiver during the 1990 and ’91 seasons, is now in charge at Texas College in Tyler.

Blackshear on Thursday was named the Steers’ acting head coach just days after George Cumby resigned to become athletic director at Tyler Gorman. Blackshear comes from the Irving ISD, where he taught and coached middle school football.

“I am excited about the idea of molding the lives of young men,” Blackshear said in a press release. “Football coaches have a unique opportunity to change lives and impart values that become a way of life on and off the field of play. We (the Steers) will play 60 minutes of hard football with tenacity and class.”

He takes over a struggling program that has won a total of four games in the past five seasons. The Steers start the season with an Aug. 30 home game against Belhaven.

The Houston native played for Tech from 1987-91 and set a Southwest Conference single-game record with 251 receiving yards against Houston. That also was a Tech record until Joel Filani broke it in 2005.

Professionally, Blackshear made an appearance with the Miami Dolphins in 1992 before playing in the Arena Football League (AFL). He ended his seven-year career as the all-time tackles leader in Houston Thunderbears/Texas Terror team history with 129 total tackles. He ended his AFL career with the 2001 Arena Bowl champion Grand Rapids Rampage. Blackshear was a nominee for the AFL 15-year anniversary team as a wide receiver/defensive back.

As a coach, Blackshear has eight years of arena football and three years of college football experience under his belt.

He began his coaching career as a Tech student assistant in 2002, then served as offensive coordinator the next year at Watauga Harvest Christian.

He then became the offensive coordinator for the Rio Grande Valley Dorados before coaching wide receivers for the Houston Cougars for one season. After that, he coached in the Indoor Football League (IFL) before returning to Lubbock as the coach of the Lubbock Renegades in 2007-08.

Blackshear coached three teams before he was named the head coach of the Amarillo Venom of the IFL in November 2010. In January 2012, he was named the head coach of the Mesquite Bandits of the Lone Star Football League, but the team folded before playing a game.